Guo Song did not return directly to Chang'an, but transferred to Huaizhou to inspect the situation in Hanoi.
The Jin army in Huaizhou has increased to 30,000 troops. Previously, 10,000 soldiers were deployed on the border between Huaizhou and Xiangzhou. As Tian Yue withdrew from Xiangzhou, these 10,000 soldiers also moved to the north bank of the Yellow River.
At this time, the Jin army deployed 30,000 troops on the north bank of the Yellow River. Guo Song appointed Taiyuan commander Li Bing as the chief general and Pei Xin as the deputy general.
Accompanied by the generals, Guo Song arrived at the bank of the Yellow River. Guo Song stood on a Guanlan Pavilion built on a high ground. The mighty Yellow River lay in front of him as far as the eye could see, with a faint black line in the distance.
"That's Mengjinguan?" Guo Song asked, pointing to the black line in the distance.
Li Bing nodded, "It's Mengjinguan, and a hundred miles to the east is Xiaopingjin. You can cross the river to go ashore at both places, but Zhu Si also put up heavy defenses."
"Where have the former Huaizhou defenders gone?" Guo Song asked again.
Pei Xin stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, part of the defenders surrendered to Weizhou Tianyue, and part of the defenders surrendered to us. Basically, the enemy troops who surrendered to us were locals from Huaizhou, and I have released them all to farm.
"
"No one crossed the river and escaped to the other side?"
"Your Highness doesn't know something. The river here only looks calm, but there are many dark eddies in the river and the suction force is very strong. Ordinary 100-stone boats will be sucked into the bottom of the river if they are not careful. The boat is destroyed and people are killed. They have lost more than thirty people.
Nearly a thousand people lost their lives on the ferry, and they would rather surrender than cross the river."
Guo Song frowned, "What kind of boats can cross the river? Have they been tested?"
"The other party has tested it. A ship with a hundred to three hundred stone will undoubtedly sink when it encounters a dark eddy. Although a ship of five hundred stone cannot sink for a while, it is difficult to get rid of it. It is easy to capsize on the river, while a ship of more than a thousand stone will sink.
The ship can barely get out of the dark eddy, but it is full of dangers and requires experienced boatmen at the helm. This is the other party's confession. We only have a dozen hundred-stone ships and have not yet tested them."
Guo Song immediately said to Li Bing: "Find some experienced boatmen and I will ask them."
Not long after, Li Bing found two old boatmen who operated the ferry. They were both named Qiu. They were a pair of cousins. The two knelt down and kowtowed to His Highness the King of Jin. Guo Song signaled his soldiers to help them up and asked with a smile: "Two of you?"
How many years have you been sailing on the Yellow River?"
"He is the elder brother. He has been sailing for thirty-five years. I have been sailing for a little shorter, thirty years."
"Have you been running ferries on this section of the Yellow River?"
"Absolutely! Occasionally, I also run freight, mainly by ferry. My ancestors have been boatmen for generations."
"Do you think it's dangerous to cross the Yellow River?" Guo Song asked calmly.
The Qiu brothers looked at each other, shook their heads and said: "There are more than forty people of our generation in the village who are running boats, but only five of them are alive today. We have to say goodbye to our families every time we go out on the boat.
Every time I come back, I celebrate my survival with my family. Your Highness, sailing on the Yellow River narrowly escapes death. This is something that countless people have proved with their lives."
"Isn't there a slightly safer area in the entire river?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, if you only walk along the edge of the Yellow River, it won't be a big problem. Various dark eddies are mainly distributed in the center of the river. Some are large and some are small. There are many and some are few. Currently, only Mengjin and Xiaopingjin are safer.
On the one hand, there are few dark eddies in the center of the river, and on the other hand, they are also relatively small. We are very familiar with them. In other places, dark eddies appear and disappear one after another. We have not had any accidents for more than 30 years because we only operate ferries and are very familiar with these two.
On Duanhe River, you know how to avoid dark eddies."
"But there are no ferries on the river now."
"There were still boats last spring, but after Zhu Si confiscated all the boats, there were no boats on the river. Now all the boats are on the other side of the river, and more than a dozen juniors from our village were drafted to sail the boats. We are
If you are too old, they will look down on you."
Guo Song finally understood. The reason why Zhu Si was not worried about the Jin army crossing the river south was because he knew that he could not cross the Yellow River. But what if he had a big ship?
"What if it's a two thousand or three thousand stone ship?" Guo Song asked again.
The two boatmen said with a wry smile: "If such a large ship travels through Mengjin and Xiaopingjin, there will definitely be no problem. The dark eddies in these two sections of the river are relatively small and will not affect such a large ship. But the problem is that it is ugly on the Yellow River.
To such a big ship."
Guo Song thought for a while and asked: "Can we still recruit experienced boatmen now?"
"Of course we can recruit them. In fact, every village along the Yellow River has one or two. There are five old boatmen in our village, all with more than 20 years of experience. If Your Highness offers a high price, I guess there will be no problem recruiting a hundred people."
.”
Guo Song nodded, turned around and said to Li Bing: "Call all the experienced boatmen nearby within a month and pay them a certain amount of money every day. The ships from Taiyuan will arrive next month at the latest, a total of ten large ships worth two thousand dan.
"
"After the ships arrive, shall we attack Mengjin?"
Guo Song pondered for a moment and said: "Wait for the news from the scouts and see which section of Xiaopingjin and Mengjin has fewer defenders."
........
For Zhu Si, Huaizhou was only a springboard to attack Hebei. On the other hand, it was also the first line of defense to protect Luoyang.
In order to prevent the enemy troops from crossing the river from Huaizhou and going south, Zhu Si accumulated nearly 20,000 troops at the two crossings of Xiaopingjin and Mengjin. They formed the second line of defense outside Luoyang. Even if the two outer lines of defense were broken through, Luoyang would still have two more troops.
The inner defense line includes the outer defense line and the city head defense line.
Mengjin is the most famous ferry on the Yellow River and a battleground for military strategists of all ages. Mengjin Pass was built at a dangerous point not far from the bank of the Yellow River. After passing Mengjin Pass and going south, you will find Heqing County. Behind Heqing County is the famous
Beimang Mountain. And Luoyang is at the foot of the southern mountain of Beimang Mountain.
Heqing County is a small county with a population of only a few thousand people. Many of them are military households. Their husbands or sons are serving in the army in Mengjin and Xiaopingjin. It is actually relatively easy to get information about the two places.
There is a Wangwu Restaurant on the busiest North Street in Heqing County. It is named after Wangwu Mountain. The owner is said to be from Huaizhou. The restaurant occupies a large area and ranks among the top three in Heqing County. The quality of the wine is also good.
Coupled with the high quality and low price, the business was very prosperous. On holidays, the restaurant was filled with soldiers who came from Mengjinguan to drink and dine.
It is said that this restaurant has just changed its owner, and the shopkeeper has also changed. The new shopkeeper’s surname is Jiang. He is a very rich middle-aged man. He always has a smile on his face and is more affable than the previous shopkeeper. The bartender of the restaurant
Half of the bartenders were replaced. The five bartenders were brought in by the new shopkeeper. Everyone can understand that if the new shopkeeper can't impress people, the business will not be viable.
However, the chef has not been changed, the prices have not been changed, and the wine has not been changed. It is enough to keep these three points unchanged. We are here to drink and eat food, not to visit a brothel. Who cares whether the waiter and the shopkeeper change?
Needless to say, this restaurant has been taken over by the Jinwei Mansion. The shopkeeper and the five new waiters are all from the Jinwei Mansion. There are three departments under the Jinwei Mansion, and an Internal Security Department, which is basically full of female guards.
To personally protect the family members of the King of Jin and the families of high-ranking officials, there is also a guard station under the Internal Guards. They are male guards, responsible for peripheral protection and the accompanying guards of high-ranking officials. The two have different responsibilities.
The second department under the Jinwei Mansion is the Special Arms Department. There are three hundred people in it, all of whom are assassins with high martial arts skills. They do not commit assassinations, but perform various special tasks, such as burning ships on the Huaihe River, etc.
The third department under the Jinwei Mansion is the Intelligence Department. This is also the department with the largest number of people and the largest scale. There are thousands of people distributed in various important cities in the world. There are more than one hundred Gaosheng Inns alone.
More than a thousand people.
They are not good at martial arts, but they all look like ordinary people, businessmen, shopkeepers, clerks, doctors, etc. Many of them are middle-aged people with good figures, which makes them less likely to be suspected.
Shopkeeper Jiang and the five waiters are one of them. Shopkeeper Jiang was transferred from Luoyang and can speak Luoyang Mandarin. The five waiters are also from nearby and have similar accents.
That morning, a man hurried into the restaurant and smiled at the shopkeeper: "The price of Yellow River carp has increased. I have found a new way. Is the shopkeeper interested?"
This man is also from the Jinwei Mansion. He appears to be a fish merchant and provides fresh fish from the Yellow River to various restaurants.
Shopkeeper Jiang understood and said with a smile: "Let's go to the back to talk!"
Shopkeeper Jiang took him to the shopkeeper's room in the backyard, closed the door, and the man took out a piece of information from his arms and handed it to the shopkeeper, "Everything the shopkeeper wants is in there."
Shopkeeper Jiang opened the paper package and found two drawings inside, one for the Mengjin defense plan and the other for the Xiaopingjin defense plan. The garrison situation was clearly marked on them. Shopkeeper Jiang was overjoyed. This was what he wanted.
"Is the information reliable?"
"It must be reliable. Wang Ling's brother-in-law stole it from his study and sold it for one hundred taels of silver. This is the copy I copied, and the original was returned."
Wang Ling was the commander-in-chief of Mengjin Pass. His family was in Luoyang, but he had a concubine in Heqing County. The brother-in-law mentioned by the clerk was the concubine's brother, a young man who was idle.
Shopkeeper Jiang looked at it carefully again. It was basically the same as what he usually heard, but the drawings were more comprehensive and should be true. He made a decision immediately: "You can't stay here anymore. Go back to Chang'an now and get these two drawings."